page_title: Iran national football team
section_title: 2018 FIFA World Cup
hierarchical_section_title: Iran national football team / History / 2018 FIFA World Cup
caption_attribution_description: فارسی: Iran national football team - October 2012.jpg (against South Korea)
context_page_description: The Iran national football team, also known as Team Melli, represents Iran in international football and is controlled by the Iran Football Federation. From December 2014 until May 2018, the men's national football team of Iran remained the highest-ranked team in Asia, representing the longest continuous period of time a team has been top of the continent in the rankings.
  Iran is one of the most successful men's national teams in Asia with three Asian Cup championships. Iran's best performance at the Olympics was reaching the quarterfinals in the 1976 Montreal Games. Iran has qualified for the World Cup five times but has never advanced past the group stage. They have, however, won two matches in the World Cup, one against the United States in 1998, and their opener against Morocco in 2018.
context_section_description: Additional information: 2018 FIFA World Cup Group B
  Iran began their 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign with friendly matches against Chile and Sweden in March 2015. Queiroz resigned from his managerial post thereafter due to disagreements with the Iranian Football Federation. On 14 April 2015, Iran were drawn with Oman, India, Turkmenistan, and Guam in the second round of qualifiers. On 26 April, Queiroz announced that he would continue as the manager of Iran for their 2018 World Cup campaign.
  Iran became the second team to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, after a 2–0 win at home over Uzbekistan on 12 June 2017. They also clinched 1st place in their qualification group after South Korea's defeat to Qatar.
  Iran won the first match against Morocco after Aziz Bouhaddouz scoring an own goal. The second match Iran lost against Spain with a goal scored by Diego Costa. The third match against Portugal ended in a draw after the penalty scored by Karim Ansarifard, and because Morocco could only manage a 2–2 draw to Spain, Iran was eliminated. However, this has become Iran's best performance in the World Cup to date, when they achieved four points.
caption: Iran's squad in October 2016 against South Korea
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